RK55 TOO BIG?

[Snowman754]

Never having had a tractor we are building a house on some land and realized I would need one. I spent a year researching what tractor to get. One recurring piece of advice in videos, in forums and from friends was get the biggest tractor you can afford. So I did. I gonna an RK55H open station and it's great 99% of the time. I use it for road and driveway maintenance and digging out a gun range in a hill. I watch videos of smaller tractors working hard to accomplish tasks that would be a breeze for mine. BUT these smaller tractors get the job done and there are things mine cant do. I cant get my tractor sideways on my driveway due to hills beside it. I cant drive across my septic tank due to it weighing 6000+ lbs. I avoid crossing my septic field. I am nervous driving it on the edges of the paved portion of my driveway. And I'm sure I'll find more. I dont regret my purchase at all but there are downsides to its size. A 37 would likely have done all I needed it to with a few thousand $$ more for attachments. If I had to do it over I would likely get the same tractor because I like to be able to do the job easy. I say I like to have ability in reserve.
With mine I can dig easily in solid clay with no toothbar, pull a six foot boxblade full of gravel uphill. Drag a 7 ft rear blade deep in the ground no problem. And so on, so overall I am happy.

Overall the point of this post is to give new buyers some things to consider when considering how big.

 

[BoylermanCT]

At 6000 lbs, your tractor is heavy, but not that heavy. Would you drive a F250 on the edge of your driveway? I am guessing yes, and you wouldn't give it a second thought. The F250 weighs in at 7000 lbs.

Yes size can limit what you can do. If you want to use a tractor in close quarters, inside a barn etc, your RK55 is the wrong tractor for that. You may find that once all the big jobs are done, it might make sense to sell the RK55 and get something smaller. Or as most on TBN would agree, you may need a second smaller tractor!

 

[jeff9366]

Your thread title is: RK55 TOO BIG?

Perhaps a better title would be RK55 TOO BIG? NO!!

 

[oosik]

My original tractor - 1982 Ford 1700 weighed around 3500 pounds. My current tractor - 2009 Kubota M6040 weighs 10,000+ pounds - fully decked out. Yes, it does take a little more care when navigating tight spots. The advantages of a bigger, heavier tractor FAR outweigh any navigational difficulties.

 

[Diggin It]

With mine I can dig easily in solid clay with no toothbar,

It's a tractor, not a bulldozer. People break stuff doing that, even big stuff. The bigger the stuff, the bigger the repair bill. And the pet food store you bought it from won't have the parts on hand.

 

[oosik]

As Diggin It indicates, it's NOT a bulldozer. You are or want to dig into a hill for the backstop for a gun range. Better to use a rear blade. Raise the rear blade to full height - back into the hill - drop the blade - drive forward. OR - get a multi tooth scarifier - raise the scarifier - back into the hill - drop the scarifier - loosen the clay - spin around and load up the bucket with the now loosened clay.

About every ten years I will dig a new landfill trench on my property. I use my roll over box blade and its scarifiers to do this job. Yes, the ROBB in its box blade configuration, only, will do the job. But with the scarifiers ahead of the box blade it SO much easier, quicker and a WHOLE LOT less work for the tractor.

 

[Jchonline]

How many acres?

 

[Smokeydog]

Sounds like you need two tractors!

 

[radios1]

for crossing septic tanks, get 1" plywood, make it double, and lay that over the tanks, that's what cesspool guys do if they have to drive over a cesspool/septic tank with a big tractor!..

 

[Sawyer Rob]

How much dirt is over the septic tank? It doesn't take much to be safe to hold up a 50hp tractor. so you can drive over it...

SR